(Reuters) – Investors enjoying near-record levels for major stock indexes will scrutinize housing data and other economic indicators in the coming week for hints about the timing of U.S. interest rate hikes to see if the rally will continue.

Concern about the Federal Reserve’s path of rate increases and the soaring U.S. dollar have resulted in big swings in the S&P 500 on a daily basis, even though overall expectations for volatility remain low.

March 20 (Reuters) – Investors enjoying near-record levels
for major stock indexes will scrutinize housing data and other
economic indicators in the coming week for hints about the
timing of U.S. interest rate hikes to see if the rally will
continue.

Concern about the Federal Reserve’s path of rate increases
and the soaring U.S. dollar have resulted in big swings in the
S&P 500 on a daily basis, even though overall expectations for
volatility remain low.

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK, March 6 (Reuters) – Avago
Technologies Ltd may be one of the pacesetters among
companies looking to make a purchase in the semiconductor
industry after its advanced talks last month to acquire
Freescale Semiconductor Ltd fell through.

Demand for cheaper chips and new products to power
Internet-connected gadgets is expected to drive chip industry
consolidation beyond NXP’s $12-billion purchase of
Freescale announced this week, analysts said.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Mobile chipmaker Qualcomm wants wireless carriers to set up new technology that would offer cellphone users better reception in places like subway tunnels and shopping malls.

The San Diego, California company said on Thursday it will start selling components this year featuring LTE technology adapted for a smaller scale than traditional cellphone base stations mounted on metal towers bristling with antennas and other electronics.

SAN FRANCISCO/TOKYO, Feb 16 (Reuters) – A labor dispute at
ports on the U.S. West Coast is disrupting supply chains across
the Pacific, forcing some Asian exporters to resort to costly
air freight and pushing up shipping rates as more freighters are
caught up in long lines to dock.

With ports near gridlock and cargo delays being felt
throughout the U.S. commercial supply chain, U.S. Labor
Secretary Tom Perez plans to travel to San Francisco on Tuesday
to help broker an agreement on a new contract between
dockworkers and the group representing shippers and terminal
operators.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 15 (Reuters) – Japanese carmaker Honda
Motor Co Ltd plans to slow production at some of its
plants in North America due to a parts shortage caused by a
partial shutdown of ports along the West Coast.

The company expects shortages at its operations in Ohio,
Indiana and Ontario, Canada, starting Monday and for each plant
to adjust its production between Feb. 16 and Feb. 23, spokesman
Mark Morrison told Reuters by email.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 15 (Reuters) – Growing numbers of
freighters were backed up around the United States’ two busiest
cargo hubs on Sunday due to a dispute between shipping companies
and dock workers that has led to a partial shutdown of ports
along the West Coast.

With cargo delays rippling through the U.S. economy,
President Barack Obama on Saturday dispatched
U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez to California to help broker an
agreement.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Friday it was asked by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for information about its dealings with a Chinese regulator, coming just five months after the company’s stock market debut.

The SEC’s request follows an unusually public fracas between Alibaba and China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce, or SAIC, over the issue of fake products being sold on the company’s websites and a series of related lawsuits filed in the United States.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Activist Investor Carl Icahn thinks Apple Inc is already worth over $1 trillion but others on Wall St. think it will take a few more years for the iPhone maker’s stock value to get there.

With Apple’s stock market value ballooning this week beyond $700 billion, larger than Switzerland’s gross domestic product, activist investor Icahn said the technology company’s shares should be trading at $216 apiece, equivalent to a market capitalization of about $1.26 trillion.

About Noel

"Based in Thomson Reuters' San Francisco news bureau, Noel Randewich covers the semiconductor industry and the growing use of microchips in everything from smartphones to home energy management. Prior to his San Francisco posting, Mr Randewich spent a decade covering emerging markets news in Mexico City."